FTFA: Still, Rhode Island officials worried that it might interfere with the state's practice of requiring naturalized citizens to own property before they could vote. "There was a big anti-Irish sentiment to Rhode Island's reticence to amending," Conley says.

As long as we're only including attractive and successful African-Americans, as well as the Chinamen.

17th (direct election of Senators)21st (repeal of Prohibition)23rd (giving electoral votes to DC)24th (abolishing the poll tax)26th (lowering the voting age to 18)27th (banning Congress from giving itself a pay raise during the current term).

Amendments typically require ratification from 2/3rds of the states to become law.If the 2/3rds margin has already been reached, why bother with the expense of holding a vote to further validate what's about to go forward?

Gosling:27th (banning Congress from giving itself a pay raise during the current term)

That one actually has a rather interesting history. It was part of the package of the first Amendments submitted to Congress containing the Bill of Rights, but it took two centuries to get 2/3 of the states to ratify it. Some state would ratify, then more states would join the Union, and it just stayed out there until it finally made the cut back in the 1990's.

"Ok, we can work on new business that will actually affect the lives of our citizens or we can ratify this already-law-of-the-land amendment in a meaningless display of time-wasting certain to garner a lot of national attention. All for time-wasting, say 'aye' ".

Once 2/3rds of the states ratify an amendment, it's the law, whether another state ratifies it or not, and there's no logical reason why a state should ratify an amendment after that.

Mississippi did not have to ratify the 13th amendment for it to be law, nor did any of the other states who didn't ratify any amendment that was ratified by 2/3rds of the states. It's a cheap symbolic move with not a whit of any law behind it.

give me doughnuts:vpb: Mississippi wasn't even a state when the 13th was ratified, so what's the point.

Mississippi statehood: 1817

Civil War ends: June 1865

13th Amendment adopted: December 1865.

Mississippi wasn't readmitted to the Union until February 23, 1870. They had no power to vote on constitutional amendments at the time, and they were basically a Military District of the United States.

BronyMedic:give me doughnuts: vpb: Mississippi wasn't even a state when the 13th was ratified, so what's the point.

Mississippi statehood: 1817

Civil War ends: June 1865

13th Amendment adopted: December 1865.

Mississippi wasn't readmitted to the Union until February 23, 1870. They had no power to vote on constitutional amendments at the time, and they were basically a Military District of the United States.

I thought it was neat that for a month in 1861, Mississippi was its own nation.

Wingchild:Amendments typically require ratification from 2/3rds of the states to become law.If the 2/3rds margin has already been reached, why bother with the expense of holding a vote to further validate what's about to go forward?

17th (direct election of Senators)21st (repeal of Prohibition)23rd (giving electoral votes to DC)24th (abolishing the poll tax)26th (lowering the voting age to 18)27th (banning Congress from giving itself a pay raise during the current term).

So Mississippi still supports prohibition since they did at the time of that vote and they didnt bother to re vote on it after it was a moot point because it already passed, right subby

17th (direct election of Senators)21st (repeal of Prohibition)23rd (giving electoral votes to DC)24th (abolishing the poll tax)26th (lowering the voting age to 18)27th (banning Congress from giving itself a pay raise during the current term).

It has more to do with the fact that the average Mississippian can't count that high than any reluctance to ratify, I suspect. They know a few of the numbers up there but they get confused easily.

Mississippi legislature voted on, and passed (accepted) the 13th Amendment way back in the before time in the long long ago.

It had never been forwarded to the archivist until this week. That's what all this is about. A piece of paper hadn't been stamped and put on a shelf. That's it. There is no conspiracy here, there is no scandal. A mistake was made, but it wasn't like the entire State Government ignored warnings and requests for more security personnel in Benghazi.

Mississippi legislature voted on, and passed (accepted) the 13th Amendment way back in the before time in the long long ago.

It had never been forwarded to the archivist until this week. That's what all this is about. A piece of paper hadn't been stamped and put on a shelf. That's it. There is no conspiracy here, there is no scandal. A mistake was made, but it wasn't like the entire State Government ignored warnings and requests for more security personnel in Benghazi.

/Mississippian

It's another chance for people feel smug and bash the woobie of the United States. Don't take it personally.

Oh, that temporary measure that was instituted to fund a war and was to be repealed after we mopped the floor with the enemy du jour? That one? That tax that, despite raking in trillions has left us trillions in debt? The one the wealthy and corporations don't pay?

If you want a truly hilarious whacko "X isn't legal because such-and-such wasn't technically a state" argument, check out the detailed explanation of how nobody should have to pay federal income tax because Ohio isn't part of the Union. It even includes a Birther argument applied to Taft:

Mississippi legislature voted on, and passed (accepted) the 13th Amendment way back in the before time in the long long ago.

It had never been forwarded to the archivist until this week. That's what all this is about. A piece of paper hadn't been stamped and put on a shelf. That's it. There is no conspiracy here, there is no scandal. A mistake was made, but it wasn't like the entire State Government ignored warnings and requests for more security personnel in Benghazi.

/Mississippian

It's another chance for people feel smug and bash the woobie of the United States. Don't take it personally.

Mississippi ain't the woobie. Some people might think of it more as the chew toy.

Nabb1:Gosling: 27th (banning Congress from giving itself a pay raise during the current term)

That one actually has a rather interesting history. It was part of the package of the first Amendments submitted to Congress containing the Bill of Rights, but it took two centuries to get 2/3 of the states to ratify it. Some state would ratify, then more states would join the Union, and it just stayed out there until it finally made the cut back in the 1990's.

I thought some historian had decided that enough states HAD ratified it in 1790-whatever, only no one tied a red ribbon around an official copy for entry into the Federal Record or somesuch (I actually think it was a case of some partisan goofball not physically bringing the signed document across the street for nakedly political reasons).

So they re-ratified it in 1992, just to be sure.

bunner:Oh, that temporary measure that was instituted to fund a war and was to be repealed after we mopped the floor with the enemy du jour? That one? That tax that, despite raking in trillions has left us trillions in debt? The one the wealthy and corporations don't pay?

If they'd wanted that, why not write it into the text of the Amendment? It's not like The Constitution charges by the word. So what we're left with, as any Constitutional Originalist/Founding Father Seance-Holder would tell you, is text that totally supports a 98% bracket on income over $1m (if we wanted one).